I just wrote this on a whim today because I had nothing else to do and this scene wouldn't get out of my head. This takes place just after Street Magic, while Briar and Evvy are on their way back to winding Circle. If you get through it, please review, it's really not that hard and it'll make me really happy...

Unexpected Reunion

by Summerstar042

Briar smiled at the skinny girl with almond eyes riding beside him as they passed through the gate leading into the city of Nonadonn. It was the first time she had ever traveled any real distance since her parents had sold her as a slave when she was just a very small child, and her eyes were wide as she saw how different from the place she had left behind. They were on their way back to Winding Circle, and had actually made it quite far by this time.

The girl, Evvy, was a newly discovered rock mage. Briar, as the one who had found her magic, was her teacher. He was actually rather proud of what a quick learner she was; she could already read most things she saw written down, if a little slowly, and she could write to some extent as well. She was always finding small stones and even some larger rocks on the road, picking them up and 'helping them,' as she put it. She would say she could feel them calling to her. This didn't really make much sense to either Briar or, he thought, Rosethorn. But, he did understand how it was with his plants, so he accepted it and didn't comment. Usually.

After riding around with their cart through the city for an hour or so, they found a relatively nice looking place where they might stay for the night. They didn't mean to stay for any longer than that; both Briar and Rosethorn were eager to return to Winding Circle, though she was not as eager as he to admit it. Evvy almost always wanted to stay longer wherever they happened to be, saying she wanted to 'get to know' the rocks they had there, some of which she excitedly told Briar she had never seen before. However, Briar and his teacher were always firm on the matter. No more than one night in one place unless something forced them to remain longer.

After making sure that their stuff was safely transported to the two small rooms they would be sharing, without any 'accidents' or mysterious disappearances, Briar went out with Evvy to find something for midday. Rosethorn stayed behind to care for their plants, saying she didn't feel remotely hungry and didn't see why they should be with her usual charm.

"Oh, Pahan Briar, look over there!" Evvy cried, pointing at a booth a little ahead of them, partly obscured by the many passersby. Briar looked and saw that it was covered in sweet-smelling meat pies. He glanced over at Evvy with a small smile on his face. She was watching him closely, a hopeful look on her face.

"I'm not sure..." he told her teasingly, and her face fell. Briar laughed. "Oh, all right. Come on."

They moved towards the booth, Evvy grinning ear to ear. It continued to amaze Briar how she could eat so much and yet remain almost as skinny as she had been when he'd found her.

As they approached the booth, Briar pulling out his money pouch as they did so, the people between them and it thinned out a bit. Suddenly, to Briar's surprise, Evvy stopped dead where she stood, he smile gone as if it had never been. Turning to look at her, he frowned slightly. "Evvy—what is it?" he asked. She looked almost in shock, her expression on the verge of panic. Briar had only ever seen that expression on her once before, and that wasn't a very pleasant memory. Her magic had gotten away from her while she tried to protect herself from some thugs who had cornered her, and he had had to hold her down with old half dead vines growing near them to calm her down and get her to listen to him. "Evvy?"

She seemed to remember for the first time that he was still there. "I don't meat pies anymore. Let's go back and help Rosethorn." she said very abruptly. Turning, she began walking very quickly back the way they has come.

"Huh? Evvy, where are you going!" He hurried after her, wondering what on had just happened. Whatever it was, he was pretty sure he missed it. "Evvy!" he called after her. She turned quickly and hissed,

"Shhh! Don't—don't do that!" She truly looked on the edge of panic now. The instant she finished saying these words, she resumed her harried pace down the street.

"Don't do what? Evvy, stop!" Finally catching up with her enough to catch her arm, he pulled her into a small alley just off the street.

"Let go of me! Let go! We—we have to move!" she cried as she struggled uselessly against him. Briar had no trouble holding her, assuming she wasn't clear-minded enough to try using her magic against him. He hoped she wouldn't; he really didn't want have to do anything.

"Why do we have to move? What are you talking about? No—I'm not letting you go 'till you tell me what you saw that upset you so much!" he was assuming it was something she had seen; how else could he have completely missed it like that?

After a few more seconds of trying to break Briar's grip on her with no success, Evvy slumped helplessly. "Please, Pahan Briar, let me go!" she begged him. "They might be coming this way..."

"Not until you tell me who they are." said Briar stubbornly. He felt as if they were running from a ghost; maybe Evvy had been out in the sun for too long...

Evvy hesitated. Then, "Fine, but then we have to go! When we were going towards that vendor's booth, I saw..." she hesitated again, swallowing hard.

"You saw..." Briar prompted her.

She looked straight up at him and said softly, "I saw my parents and my eldest brother. Can we please go now?"

Briar was stunned. Well, he hadn't expected that. She had seen her parents? The awful people he had heard about, the people who had sold Evvy into slavery when she was only three years old, because they had considered her to be useless? A scrawny little nothing eating up their food, good only for the few coins they received from her sale? Briar could feel anger welling up inside him. How dare they? Had they even realized what it was they were simply giving away in exchange for a few coins? Somehow, he doubted it. If they had, the sale would never have taken place.

Abruptly letting go of Evvy, he turned and began striding back to the booth. "Where are you going?" Evvy called after him, running up to him.

"I'm going to have a little talk with your parents..." he trailed off, and then stopped, looking at her. "You know, you should too." Evvy looked horrified at the very idea.

"Oh, no... Please let's just go back!"

"No, listen... this way, you might be able to get rid of those nightmares of yours, and you can really tell them off for what they did to you. Don't tell me you haven't imagined doing that, because I know you have. And, Evvy... you don't have to worry. I don't care what they did to you before, they can't do it anymore. You know I won't let them hurt you, and you're very capable of protecting yourself now as well." Suddenly, Briar grinned. "And, we get to see the looks on their faces when they learn you're a rock mage. From their point of view on what makes a person worth something, that would probably make you worth more than all your other siblings put together."

Evvy gave a small smile. "Well..." But before she could finish, Briar cut in.

"Great! Let's go," he said, pulling a laughing Evvy behind him. However, the moment they arrived and she again glimpsed her parents and her older brother, whose name was Paan, all her worry rushed back as she realized exactly what it was she was about to do. Again, she stopped, but Briar wasn't about to let her get away this time. Noting who she was looking at, he firmly took her hand and continued on towards them before she could take flight again.

Evvy was nervous. She didn't think she had ever been so nervous in her life, not even when she had escaped from her slavery and had had to creep through her master's house, knowing what would happen if she were caught. It shouldn't have been, but somehow, this was much worse. Unfortunately, Pahan Briar didn't seem about to let her out of it. She quickly went over in her head the things he had told her a moment ago... they couldn't hurt her anymore... couldn't sell her away... they would find out exactly what it was they had given up for a mere two silver pieces. She would show them. Feeling a bit more confident, they stopped directly in front of the three people.

"Excuse me," said Briar, trying to sound pleasant. Somehow, it came out much more coldly than he had intended. Oh, well.

The man he assumed to be Evvy's father looked up at him, ignoring Evvy, clearly irritated at having his meal interrupted. "Can I help you?" he asked in a flat voice.

"Why, yes, you can, actually," replied Briar in that same strange voice. "My name is Briar Moss. I'm a mage. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions."

"Well, I do mind, actually," said the man in a mocking voice. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're trying to have a meal here. You're no more old enough to be a mage than a mere child. Go spread your lies somewhere else, and leave us in peace, or I will report you to the patrols." He glared at him. They still hadn't given any sign that they'd noticed Evvy.

Briar seriously did not like this man. Trying hard to hold onto his temper, he gave him a smile that was more of a smirk. Noticing several small weeds growing in the ground by their feet, he got a wicked idea, and did not hesitate to act upon it. Okay, so maybe he wasn't as in control of his powers as he'd thought. Not that he really cared, at the moment.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way..." said Briar, continuing to talk, not really hearing what he was saying as he helped the weeds to grow, higher, and higher, they were brushing the man's shoes...

Suddenly, as her teacher talked, Evvy noticed something. She had felt so humiliated, and so angry when her father had said those things. She had thought that Pahan Briar hadn't even noticed, but now she thought maybe she had, because, unnoticed by her family, small vines began to twist around their legs and ankles, slowly climbing higher... He had once tied her down like that, before she'd gotten to know him. Now, she was glad he had, but she certainly hadn't been at the time. Now, she almost laughed aloud at their oblivion.

That was when her brother, Paan, saw what was going on. His eyes grew wide, and he gave a strangled yell. Briar, smirking again, looked over at him. "I wouldn't..." he began, but it was too late. Paan tried to jerk upright, but standing did not seem to be a very good option for him. His knees would not unbend properly, and the results of his attempts were simply that he ended up with his face in the mud, flailing and spluttering. Evvy's parents weren't much better. Her father's eyes went wide, and her mother looked terrified, though they did not freak out as much as her brother.

"Well." said Briar, still smirking. "Would you agree, now, that I am a mage?"

"I would," said the man in a voice like ice, humiliation etched though. "Now undo whatever trickery you have done."

"Oh, no," said Briar pleasantly, "I told you I had questions."

"Well then, ask them,"

"For starters," said Briar, the pleasant note now gone, "Why would a family want to sell their youngest daughter into slavery?"

The man blinked. "What're you getting at?"

Evvy couldn't take it anymore. She stepped forward, and spoke. "You know exactly what he's talking about, father. You sold me when I was only three years old, for two silver pieces. I can still remember the greedy look on your face when you received those coins, too. They meant so much more to you than I ever did."

The man looked her over. Evvy spoke again, "I see you're still as pathetic as ever, Paan. The only reason they kept you was because you were older, and you were a boy. They never loved anyone," she said, this last bit directed at her parents.

He mother was looking at her. "Evumeimei?" she asked.

Evvy grimaced. "No," she said, "Evvy."

Her father had finally caught on. He gave Evvy a disgusted look "Oh, I remember. You were our little rat of a daughter. Useless, you were, if you were anything. The only thing you ever did for this family was getting us those coins."

"She was three years old." said Briar softly. "What did you expect her to do?"

There was a long silence. Then, once again, Evvy spoke. "Well, I no longer care for you any more than you ever did for me. I think you are no better than the lowest criminals, the worst tyrant. I pity my sisters who were stuck with you, no doubt always hearing about how 'useless' they were. Unless you sold them too?" Her father said nothing, so she continued. "I just wanted you to know exactly how I feel about you, and exactly what you did to me. I was on the streets from age five. I spent two years in chains. Now, I'm learning to be a mage." She paused for effect, to let this sink in.

"You can't be learning to be a mage," said her mother contemptuously. "We had you tested, you have no magic. We would have sold one of the others if you had."

"She has ambient magic. So do I." said Briar. "Since you are probably not intelligent enough to know what that means, I'll tell you. She does not get her power from within herself, as academic mages do. It comes from her surroundings. She will be a rock mage."

There was silence between them again for several seconds. Then Evvy said, "Let's go back and help Rosethorn now, Pahan Briar. I don't have anything to say." She turned and began to walk away, not hurrying, but not slowly either.

Briar looked them over for a moment. "I hope you do realize what you did to her." he told them softly, "Do you know she's had nightmares about the day you sold her? A horrible thing for a child to have to experience. You truly are the lowest of the low; selfish, greedy people with no feeling for others, not even your own children. I hope you enjoyed those two coins." He released them, and turned to follow Evvy.

As the mysterious mage boy walked away, Evvy's father stared after them. Quickly coming to a decision, he ran after them.

"Evumeimei!" he called after her. She turned, glaring at him.

"Evvy!" she hissed.

"Right... Evvy." He gave her a sleazy looking smile. "I have a proposal for you. I regret selling you off, and would like to make amends. You may return to our family, as my.. daughter. We can find someone else to continue your lessons with, and..." he trailed off at the angry expression on Evvy's face.

"You sell me because I'm 'useless.' Now you want me back, because you think I can help make you money. I hate you," she glared at him. "And you care nothing for me. You only want my ability. Now leave me alone." She left.

Briar watched this with amazement. He had never heard her speak like that to anyone before. He was proud of her. He couldn't wait to introduce her to his foster sisters when they finally made it back to Winding Circle.

Hope you liked it. If you did, you should really review. If you didn't, you should review anyway. ...Please?